Secretary of State for Education visits Magic Breakfast club

Thursday 19th March 2015

The Secretary of State for Education, the Rt Hon Nicky Morgan MP, joined pupils at St Eugene de Mazenod Primary School’s Magic Breakfast club in the London Borough of Camden this morning to see how a healthy breakfast settles children and helps them to concentrate in their core morning lessons.

Magic Breakfast delivers free, nutritious breakfast food to 17,000 children daily in areas of England where children would otherwise start their school day too hungry to learn. The charity has over 180 partner schools in London, 9 of which are in Camden.

Magic Breakfast supplies porridge, healthy cereal, bagels and fresh orange juice to primary, secondary, PRU and SEN schools where more than 35% of pupils are eligible for Free School Meals. The charity has received funding of £1.1 million from the Department for Education to set up breakfast provision in 184 schools, but has more than 270 schools on its waiting list and is anxious to reach them as soon as possible.

Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, said: “It was absolutely fantastic to join Magic Breakfast at St Eugene de Mazenod school. Having a healthy breakfast is a crucial way to start the day and helps ensure children can concentrate ahead of lessons. It was great to sit down and have breakfast with some of the children, and hear from them what they liked most about it. I am delighted that the Department for Education is supporting what is clearly a brilliant initiative”.

Carmel McConnell, Founder and Chief Executive of Magic Breakfast, said: “We are delighted with this show of support from the Secretary of State for Education at St Eugene de Mazenod Primary School. Our partnership with the Department for Education, corporate and charity partners ensures that thousands of previously hungry children are able make the most of the most important lessons, which are taught in the morning. Given that half a million children are in families which cannot afford to feed them, our hope is that we can quickly scale up our operation and accelerate the Magic Breakfast programme to help all hunger-hit schools”.

Greg Donohue, Associate Headteacher of St Eugene de Mazenod Primary School, said: “The provision of a healthy breakfast has made a significant difference to the school’s punctuality attendance figures. Children who have had a Magic Breakfast are calm and ready to learn. The school will continue providing breakfasts to children who need them, many of whom come from disadvantaged homes”.

Carmel McConnell: “I am very pleased to have been able to showcase the work of our partner school, St Eugene de Mazenod Primary, rated Outstanding by Ofsted, which has embedded a healthy Magic Breakfast as part of their school day”.

Magic Breakfast's head office is in London (our office space is kindly lent to us by Pearson), but our School Partners are located all over England and Scotland so they can be close to the schools they work with.

Magic Breakfast not only provides food aid to schools, but has an expert team to help identify and reach every hungry pupil, offer nutrition advice and training, give parents nutrition and food hygiene training, and advise on post-breakfast activities such as book clubs and exercise sessions.

Magic Breakfast was founded by Carmel McConnell, MBE, in 2003, but she started buying and delivering breakfasts to five schools in the London borough of Hackney three years previously after hearing from headteachers there that many of their pupils couldn't concentrate until they had had their lunch as they were too hungry.